San Diego (Border Report) — Members of the media got a firsthand look at how U.S. Coast Guard personnel stop vessels suspected of carrying migrants.
It occurred during a simulation in which one boat chased another on San Diego Bay.
Inclement weather and low visibility prevented the event from taking place on the Pacific Ocean as planned.
The officers involved tried to make the interdiction as realistic as possible by using sirens and flashing lights to get the boat to yield.
When that didn’t work, they fired pepper balls at a dummy named “Oscar” who pretended to be the driver of a boat transporting migrants.
When Oscar finally slowed down, officers drew their guns and seized the “non-compliant boat.”
“We’ve essentially tripled the amount of Coast Guard assets on the southern border,” stated Peter Nelson, Officer in Charge of Coast Guard Station San Diego. “This has happened in the last two months.”
According to US Coast Guard data, the number of stops on vessels carrying illegal migrants has remained consistent. Statistics show that there have been 260 so far this fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2024.
For fiscal year 2024, there were 561. The year before, there were 703.
“It’s been pretty consistent over the last few years,” Nelson told me. “The one thing that has changed is the amount of boats and aircraft in the area to help detect and in the interdiction of folks coming across.”
Nelson explained that the Coast Guard is one of several federal agencies working to prevent migrant smuggling on the water.
“We have additional helicopters and fix-wing aircraft as well as working with partner agencies such as Customs and Border Protection that is flying more flights giving us air cover,” according to him. “The U.S. Navy has a vessel that has a Coast Guard law enforcement team on board right now helping us secure the border as well.”
According to Nelson, having fast-moving, difficult-to-outrun boats is advantageous.
“We can reach speeds of up to 50 miles an hour depending on the type of boat we’re chasing, stuff from pangas to recreational vessels to jet skis.”
Nelson also stated that the majority of interdictions are peaceful, though smugglers and boat drivers do not always give up easily.
“There have been times when they are very aggressive, they have taken actions to harm members of my crew, they throw wrenches, tools at us, and they use their vessels to ram our boats as well.”
Nelson also stated that one of their primary goals is to ensure the safety of migrants, who frequently board unsafe boats late at night in turbulent ocean conditions.
